Art Market Magazine - Visit zone

Transcription

NUMBER 45
NOCTURNE
26 M ar ch to 10 pm
OPENING HOURS
Week 2 pm to 7 pm
w eek end 11 am to 7 pm
tica
a B russels
E ur an ti
l
BRUSSELS EXPO
20-29.03
RUSSEELS
BR
FINE
ART
F A
FA
AIR
Exhibition sponsored by
Organised by EASYFAIRS
www.eurrantica.be
Auction House
SPECIALISTS:
TRIBAL ART: Jean ROUDILLON
+33 (0)1 42 22 85 97
MODERN ART: Elisabeth MARECHAUX
+33 (0)1 44 42 90 10
MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART: Marc OTTAVI
+33 (0)1 42 46 85 19
SCULPTURES & ANIMAL DRAWINGS: Jean‐Christian DAVEAU
+33 (0)6 07 89 86 88
Mathilde Malaval collection ‐ 28 works by Robert MALAVAL (1937‐1980)
For more information:
Saturday 21 March, 11am to 2pm
Drouot Richelieu, room 13
9 rue drouot ‐ 75009 Paris
A - Ivan AIVAZOVSKY (1817-1900)
Seascape at night, 1864, oil on
canvas, signed, 60 x 78 cm.
Certificate of authenticity signed
by M. Ivan Samarine
On display at Marc Ottavi
B- Alberto GIACOMETTI (1901-1966)
Figure with raised arms, gilt
bronze, mounted as a brooch and
made into a pendant.
4.6 x 4.4 cm - Certificate from the
Giacometti committee.
C - Édouard VUILLARD (1868-1940)
Le Grand Salon chez les Hessel,
circa 1905, signed oil. 28 x 36 cm.
D - Wilhelm RICHTER (1824-1892)
La Comtesse Yulia Samoïlova entourée d’Officiers de Hussards
Russes, 1855, oil on card, signed,
41 x 51 cm.
E - Igael TUMARKIN (né en 1933)
Untitled, 1960, painting and multimedia on canvas, 100 x 81 cm
7 works by the artist.
F - Peter KNAPP (né en 1931)
The shadows, 1953, photograph
(film print).
100 x 73 cm
9 works by artist.
G - CÉSAR (1921-1998)
Expansion, 1966, polystyrene with
glass fibre and lacquer. Unique
piece. 225 x 135 x 35 cm
5 works by artist.
H – CREST MASK "two-storey
house". Wood "painted black and
white". Mali,
Dogon. Height approx. 400 cm
62 lots of tribal art.
Public exhibition:
For more information:
Drouot, room 13:
Friday 20 March, 11am to 6pm
Telephone during the exhibition: + 33 (0)1 48 00 20 13
Aurélien Lechertier
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +33 (0)1 34 42 14 50
associate auctioneers ‐ BP 20152 Pontoise ‐ 95304 Cergy‐Pontoise Cedex‐ authorisation n°2002‐115
ROOM 2.0
DROUOT’S NEW
100% ONLINE
AUCTION SPACE
EVERY WEEK,
NEW OBJECTS ARE SELECTED
BY DROUOT'S AUCTIONEERS
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KAPA
AN
NDJI MORHAN
NGE
Auctioneer in Paris
AUCTIO
ON ON FRIDAY
Y 27 MARCH 2015
at 2pm
m (Paris time)
Hôtel D
Drouot – Room 6
Modern p
paintings: AT
TLA
AN,
DAU
UCHO
OT,, DOMERG
GUE,
GLEIZES
S, RENOIR,
SAV
SA
VIN
VIN...
Exceptional
pain
i tin
ing by DALI
Thhe Waailing Waall,, 1975.
Oil on canva
v s and mixed
technique,
signed and dated lower right.
76 × 56 cm, 94 × 74,5 cm
(canvas wi
w th margin)
In May 1975 a revolutionary
wind was blowing through Paris
and a remarkkable event took
place at the Hotel Meurice.
Salvador Dali signed his painting
The Wailing Wall (Kotel) on
stage, but he did not stop there:
he offered to perform before
the astonished cameramen. The
result was - as always - provocative, elegant and magnificent.
You will finnd the video and our
full catalogu
g e online at:
www.kapan
a dji-morhange.com!
contents
ART MARKET - MAGAZINE
16
UPCOMING
In March, the pace of sales increases.
A fine bowl from the Vincennes manufacturer
is up against a Sèvres table service, Hubert Robert,
Louise Moillon from the Grandchamp des Raux collection
and exponents of Narrative Figuration. Paris will also host
two sales of photography collections…
ART FAIR
84
TEFAF, 2015 edition.
France is much to the fore
at the great European fair.
We take a look at this "French
exception" in Maastricht.
52
RESULTS
The auction season got off to a roaring start with
vintage cars, a speciality with several seven-figure
results. High bids were also recorded for Asian art.
90
TRENDS
The Grand Tour of drawing. In the 17th century,
artists began to travel to Italy to put the finishing
touches to their training. A truly initiatory circuit,
which still had a strong appeal two centuries later.
EVENT
68
With each new season, the Salon du
Dessin pursues its quest for excellence,
offering collectors and professionals the
very best in the market.
76
INTERVIEW
The Musée d'Orsay is cultivating its international
image. The celebrated museum's policy for
exhibitions abroad is one of the most dynamic
and lucrative of its kind. Here, passion goes hand
in hand with good management.
ART FAIR © Lucas Ratton - INTERVIEW ©Photo Nicolas Krief - EVENT ©Jean Luc Baroni LTD
eDItorIal
In March, you'll be unlikely to meet any dealers taking it easy:
it may already be sunny in certain climes, but this is the season for
major events. You could even call it the European art fair season.
After the BRAFA, the TEFAF – the ritual antiques gathering – is
now occupying all the professionals, or at least, those lucky
enough to be a part of it. It's very hard to get in, and without
DR
wanting to invoke the kiss of death, it often means waiting for a
colleague to bow out before gaining entry. This year, 39 French
galleries are taking part: the largest turn-out after the British,
ahead of the Flemish and Germans. The younger Salon du Dessin
Stéphanie Perris-Delmas
EDITORIAL MANAGER
has, over the years, established itself so successfully that it is now
the international get-together for enthusiasts and specialists.
This year, 39 galleries, including 19 from France, are exhibiting
their masterpieces at the Palais Brongniart. The icing on the cake
is that the Paris fair is hosting an exhibition of architectural
drawings from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, whose
little-known collection contains some genuine treasures. For a
week, the French capital becomes the Mecca for fine drawings.
It'll take you less than four hours to get from Maastricht to Paris…
Editorial Director Olivier Lange I Editor-in-chief Gilles-François Picard I Editorial Manager Stéphanie Perris-Delmas ([email protected]) I Graphic Design Sébastien Courau I Layout-artist Sophie Josse ([email protected]) I Sales Department Karine Saison([email protected]) I Internet Manager Christopher Pourtalé Realization Webpublication I The following have participated in this issue: Sylvain Alliod, Anne DoridouHeim, Cécile Camille, Tom Dyer, Anne Foster, Chantal Humbert, Caroline Legrand, Xavier Narbaïts, Claire Papon, Sophie Reyssat I Translation and proofreading: 4T Traduction & Interprétariat, a Telelingua Company 93181 Montreuil.
I La Gazette Drouot - 10, rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, 75009 Paris, France. Tél. : +33 (0)1 47 70 93 00 - [email protected]. This issue of La Gazette Drouot is a publication of @uctionspress. All rights reserved.
It is forbidden to place any of the information, advertisements or comments contained in this issue on a network or to reproduce same in any form, in whole or in part, without the prior consent of @uctionspress. © ADAGP, Paris 2015,
for the works of its members.
PRICES INCLUDE BUYER’S PREMIUM
Beaussant GazInternationale 3-2015_Beaussant GazInternationale 3-2015 16/03/15 10:57 Page1
BEAUSSANT LEFÈVRE
Auctioneers
PARIS - D ROUOT R ICHELIEU
© Associated Newspapers
Wednesday, March 25
at 2 p.m. - Room 2
19 th and 20 th century PHOTOGRAPHIES
Pierre Marc Richard’s collection
Herbert MASON (1903-1964) - St Paul’s survives, London, December 1940.
Expert: Philippe
JACQUIER – +33 (0)1 48 70 02 02 – [email protected]
32, rue Drouot - 75009 Paris - Tel.: +33 (0)1 47 70 40 00 - Fax: +33 (0)1 47 70 62 40 - Agrément n° 2002-108
www.beaussant-lefevre.com - [email protected]
news In brIef
Chu Teh-Chun, "Amours océanes" (Oceanic Visions)
Under this poetic title, a selection of 22 works by the
master of lyrical abstraction awaits you at the Fondation Monticelli near Marseille. The exhibition takes its
name from a 1964 painting, "Amour ocean" (Oceanic
Vision), in which sky- and sea-coloured monochromes
mingle with undulating lines of luminous foam. Water
featured in the artist's mental landscape throughout
his career, and indeed played a major part in his life.
When he set out for France to discover Western culture,
propitious waves carried him from Taiwan to Marseille,
where he disembarked in 1955. During his initiatory
voyage through the vastness of the ocean blue, he
sailed from port to port towards a new life in the
company of Ching-Chao, who became his wife. Destiny
was decidedly under way...The privately-owned Monticelli Museum, housed in an old fort with a panoramic
view over Marseille's port, could hardly fail to pay
homage to the artist sixty years after he first set foot in
the city. Things have come full circle. Both starting
point and unifying theme, the ocean features in all his
paintings. The exhibition curators, Anne-Valérie and
Yvon Chu (the son of the artist, who died last year)
decided to look back over Chu Teh-Chun's career by
highlighting iconic works from every period, from the
1960s to his last paintings in 2008. They all reflect a
subjective vision of shifting nature interpreted on
canvas with great sensitivity, reflecting both Chinese
tradition and Western modernity.
Sophie Reyssat
From 12 March to 4 October, Fondation Monticelli,
Fortin de Corbières, Marseille,
www.fondationmonticelli.com
W
10
HD
Chu Teh-Chun (1920-2014), “Oceanic Vision”,
oil on canvas, no. 1280, 81 x 54 cm, 1964.
© Atelierctc
Pierre Bonnard
Self-portrait, 1889
Oil on board
8,3 x 6,7 in.
The Antoine Terrasse Collection
Authorisation n° 2002-135
Paintings, Drawings, Watercolours
Sunday March 29th
Catalog available on demand or
on www.osenat.com
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / NEWS IN BRIEF
444,714
The number of visitors who came to the
three-month Niki de Saint Phalle exhibition
at the Grand Palais in Paris. This closed on
2 February and is now running in Bilbao.
Over a similar period, 285,174 people
visited the Hokusai exhibition, also held at
the Grand Palais.
TUDORS
Following the successful TV series
"The Tudors", the complicated lives of
the Tudor monarchs are the subject of
a new book by French historian Liliane
Crété, author of several books on
England. Containing 200 illustrations,
this will be published on 11 March,
in time for the "Tudor" exhibition
at the Musée de Luxembourg,
which opens on 18 March.
Ivory, the USA and the art market
Last February, the American government adopted the "National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking"
along with a "Commercial Ban on Trade in Elephant Ivory" in order to protect elephants and rhinoceroses threatened by extinction. The import, export, and resale of precious materials are all prohibited in America, with a few
exceptions. Ancient art objects have been hit hard by this radical decision. Already required to provide proof of
authenticity and legal import before the 1990 and 1975 deadlines for African and Asian ivory, they also have to
satisfy the criteria of the Endangered Species Act. Given these constraints, some art market professionals are
now removing ivory from their antiques and replacing it with more "appropriate" materials.
13
NEWS IN BRIEF / GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL
6-15 March
Come and relive the "guinguette" spirit just 10 minutes from Paris,
when the Chatou Fair, France's biggest flea market, celebrates its 90th
edition! It features all kinds of specialities – furniture, painting, fashion
and jewellery, not to mention gastronomy – reflecting its origins, for its
roots go all the way back to France's traditional Ham Fair of mediaeval
times. This year, the delicious creations of Parisian chocolatier Patrice
Chapon will be appearing for the first time: a feast for the eyes and
palate alike!
240,945
The exhibition devoted to this pioneering supporter of Impressionist painters Paul-Durand Ruel at the Musée de
Luxembourg in Paris clocked up
240,945 visitors. 15,000 signed up for
the MOOC (Massive Online Open
Course) that accompanied the exhibition, with 10% completing the 8-week
course.
Art market specialist consultant
You can turn a keen interest into professional expertise with the
"Art Market specialist consultant" diploma offered by Drouot
Formation. In a nine-month course, you learn how to identify
works of art, gain negotiating skills, and study the associated
theory with specialists in History of Art and Law. Taking a handson approach, the course makes full use of Drouot, where nearly
550,000 works of art go on sale each year.The course, a mixture
of morning lectures and afternoon visits to auction houses, is
particularly designed for professionals looking to specialise in
the art market.
www.drouot-formation.com
W
14
SALE IN PREPARATION
CONTEMPORARY ART - DESIGN
Friday 17 April, 2pm (GMT +1) - Hôtel Drouot, room 4
9, rue Drouot 75009 Paris
Alexander CALDER (1898-1976)
"Trois pics", 1968.
Gouache, signed and dated.
H. 78 cm - L. 58 cm.
One of a set of three watercolours.
To include lots in this sale, please contact Géraldine d’Ouince
+ 33 (0)1 42 46 52 02 - [email protected]
Catalogue deadline: Wednesday 18 March 2015.
FREE AND CONFIDENTIAL APPRAISALS AND VALUATIONS
Every Monday, no appointment necessary, in Lyon or Paris, or from photographs sent by post or email to [email protected], or at your home by appointment.
APPRAISALS –VALUATIONS – INVENTORIES –AUCTIONS
Auctioneers authorised to conduct sales: Etienne de Baecque - Géraldine d’Ouince - Authorisation N°2008-684 RCS LYON 509 647 186
UPcoMInG
aUctIons
W
Vincennes, round lidded bowl with oval tray in soft
porcelain, called the "Turk ‘s bowl ", with inscriptions:
"LL" intertwined, date letter B for 1755, without painter’s
mark, 18th century (1755), H. 17.5, L. 32 cm.
Estimate: €60,000/80,000.
HD
>
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / UPCOMING AUCTIONS
Vincennes,
a diplomatic gift
2
Highly sought-after by collectors, Vincennes porcelain
is the focus of attention in this sale by Fauve Paris. This
lidded bowl with its under-dish, known as the "Turk's
bowl", is sure to appeal. Estimated at €60,000/80,000, it
comes from the descendants of the Sultan of Constantinople's Greek banker. The piece is outstanding for its
rarity, technical prowess, beauty and prestige. Probably
designed by the silversmith Jean-Claude Duplessis, it is
one of nine bowls made for the Ottoman market
bought by the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux in
1755. Only two have come down to us: the other
belongs to the Markus collection in the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts. According to the specialist Cyrille
Froissart, "this is probably one of the first examples of
Vincennes porcelain used as a diplomatic gift: it
predates the Sèvres porcelain services Louis XV gave to
Frederick V of Denmark and Maria Theresa of Austria by
two years." A diplomatic gift, then, to impress Osman III,
the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to whom it might
have been offered…
Sophie Reyssat
19
UPCOMING AUCTIONS / GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL
6
HD
>
The Guy Bechtel Library
The announcement of the dispersion of
the Guy Bechtel Library should leave no
bibliophile unmoved. A history professor
and renowned member of the Academie
Française with a keen interest in the
Renaissance, he is also the author of
several books, including "La Sorcière et
l'Occident", published in 1997. Specialising in Gutenberg, he possessed one leaf
of 42 lines from a Bible published by the
printer in around 1454-1455. This is
going on sale with an estimate of
€20,000/30,000 in the auction at Drouot
(Binoche & Giquello). Mediaeval
thought is revealed through around 30
incunabula and some 60 French Gothic
texts. From Ulrich Molitor's "De Lamili",
published in 1495 with the first illustration of witchcraft in history
(€15,000/20,000), to rare editions of
chivalric romances, not to mention
"Boccace" published in Louvain in
1483 (€15,000/20,000 – see photo),
scholars will be on cloud nine.
Sophie Reyssat
6
HD
>
A dark-haired beauty by Van Dongen
Everything about this work - Woman with fan (€250,000/300,000) - for sale in Bordeaux (Jean Dit Cazaux
& Associés) on 6 March smacks of Kees Van Dongen's Fauvist period, like the glowing colours, the black
outlines, the almond-shaped eyes… Coming from a private Bordeaux collection, this painting has similarities with a portrait painted by the Dutch artist in 1910, "A Finger on her Cheek" (now in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), which was exhibited a year later in the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris. It shows a
beautiful Spanish woman with a fan. There is no question that the two pictures share the same model: a
dark-haired beauty wearing make-up, in a red dress. From 1906 onwards, Van Dongen painted numerous
portraits of women in radiant colours. In 1905, he took part in the celebrated "Cage aux Fauves" at the Salon
d'Automne alongside Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck. This "architect of Fauvism" was one of the stars of the
Paris art scene at the time.
21
GENERAL ARTS AND ANTIQUES AUCTION
24 March - 7 April
in Amsterdam
Viewing 19 - 22 March
Catalogue online from Wednesday 11 March onwards
Gustave de Smet (1877-1943): "Trees", gouache, ca. 1911. 25 x 36 cm.
Estimate: €8 000-15 000
Papua, Asmat, ancestral figure, kawe.
Height 165 cm. Provenance: Collected
by K.J. Begheijn in the 1950s
Estimate: €15 000-20 000
Raoul Larche (1830-1912):
" Loïe Fuller", a gilt bronze figural table lamp,
cast by Siot Decauville Paris, circa 1900,
numbered R94, height 45.5 cm.
Estimate: €18 000-22 000
A rare silver pocketglobe
By Richard Cushee, 1731
In sharkskin holder, the inside covered with handcoloured
astronomical engravings, diam. 7.5 cm.
Estimate: €12 000-16 000
Keizersgracht 474 - 1017 EG Amsterdam - The Netherlands
Tel. +31 20 6220447 - www.dezwaan.nl - [email protected]
AGUTTES
Auction house authorisation n°2002-209. Auctioneers authorised to conduct sales:Claude Aguttes,
Diane de Karajan, Séverine Luneau, Sophie Perrine, Agathe Thomas
Neuilly
Drouot
Lyon
Deauville
NATURAL PEARLS AND JEWELLERY
Thursday 12 March, 2.30pm (GMT +1)
Neuilly-sur-Seine
SPECIALIST
Philippine Dupré la Tour
+33 1 41 92 06 42
[email protected]
CARTIER Rock crystal clip,
diamonds and natural pearls.
Signed.
René BOIVIN Large articulated "crab" clip.
Signed. Circa 1985.
Sale live on www.drouotlive.com
Catalogue available at www.aguttes.com
Neuilly-sur-seine
164 bis av. Ch. de Gaulle
92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine
Lyon-Brotteaux
13, Place Jules Ferry
69006 Lyon
Gold brooch. circa 1900.
LALIQUE Lorgnette. Signed.
HD
24
>
Buffet
in Brittany
7
Bernard Buffet (1928-1999), "Environs de
Quimperlé, le Vieux Moulin et le pont de la
roche du Diable", oil on canvas signed, dated
1975, 89 x 130 cm. Estimate :
€60,000/80,000.
Named the best post-war painter by the magazine
"Connaissance des Arts" in 1955, Bernard Buffet took a
resolute stand against contemporary abstraction
movements with an innovative, figurative style depicting man's poverty, existential vacuum and solitude.
But over the years, black hatching and grey backgrounds gave way to colour and a greater sense of
peace. His work from the 1970s is dominated by lively
landscapes, as he frequently set up his easel on the
coasts of Brittany and Normandy. He spent time
between the capital and Brittany between 1965 and
1971, having bought a Belle Epoque villa called
"La Vallée" in Saint-Cast (Côtes d'Armor). In 1980, he
bought Saint-Crespin manor in Normandy.
These coastal regions gave him the freedom to work
on landscapes with sombre, threatening skies,
between land and sea. Here we see the "Surroundings
of Quimperlé with the old mill and bridge at Devil's
Rock ", painted in 1975, now appearing at the Nîmes
sale room with an estimate of €60,000/80,000.
Caroline Legrand
25
Mayy Asssociés
Roubaix,
161March
Roub
baix, le
6 marss 2015
2015
à 10h
h15and
et 14
4h30
h30
10.15
14.30
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(GMT +1)
Emmanuel PHILL
LIPS FOXFOX
(1865-1915)
Emmanuel
PHILLIPS
(18651915)
«Blanche
et noiire»
"Black
and white"
Oil
on
Huil
e canvas.
sur toile.
Signed
bottomleft
and dated
1912.1912.
Signée en bas à gauche
et datée
Titled
100
x 80cm.
cm.
Titréeon
aureverse.
dos. 100
x 80
(Slight
previously
restored).
(Légèrtear
ure anciennement
e déchiru
Provenance:
restaurée). Provenance :
ex
A.S
collection
in
Roubaix.
ancienne collecction A.S. à Roubaix.
;nfei_j_edi0
Exhibitions:
Vendredi
13 Mar2015,
s 201510.30
de 10h30
à 18h30
- Friday
13 March
to 18.30
Samedi 14
s 2015
de 09.30
9h30 àto12h30
- Saturday
14mar
March
2015,
12.30
et 14.30
de 14h30
à 17h30
and
to 17.30
Lundi 1616
mar
2 2015,
de 9h
à 10h15
s 2015
- Monday
March
09.00
to 10.15
(Exposition
dém
montée)
(Exhibition
dismantled)
PUBLIC
AUCTION
MAI
SON DE
VENTE HOUSE
Thierry
May, associate
auctioneer
X ENCHÈRES
PUBLIQUES
AUX
May
s.a.r.l.
Thie
Thierry
erryAssociés
May
May, commis
saire-priseur h
habilité
auction
house
authorisation
May Associés s.a.rr.l.
.
n°
2002450
s.v.v. agrément n° 2002-450
ROUBAIX - 59100
ROUBAIX 59100
4, 4,
rue
dudu
Mar
échal Foch
rue
Maréchal
Foch
(Gr
and Plac
e)
(Grand
Place)
Tél.
: 03
28 (0)3
33 70
Tel.:
+ 33
2833
33 70 33
Fax:
33 (0)3
2839
33 70 39
Fax
: 03+ 28
33 70
www
w.maya
.
associes.com
m
contact@maya
associess.com
10
HD
>
From Botero to Kazuo Shiraga
Get your diaries out! At its sale of modern and contemporary art, the Paris auction house Tajan will be offering a
selection of 30 pieces from a private European collection by some of the greatest names from these periods. Some are
monumental, like "Mirror", a limestone sculpture by Anish Kapoor (€400,000/600,000), or the nonchalantly sprawling
bronze Venuses of Fernando Botero (€400,000/600,000) and Antoniucci Volti ("Woman of Tours", €30,000/50,000).
Asian artists are also present in the painting section, with Chu Teh-chun and Kazuo Shiraga (photo). Worth mentioning
is the Japanese artist's "Ungen", a 1976 painting you can carry off for around €600,000, and an installation by his young
compatriot Chiharu Shiota, where a suitcase is imprisoned in a web of threads, symbolising a world of memories
(€30,000/50,000).
Sophie Reyssat
Destination
photography
19
The collector couple have decided to remain anonymous, but make no mistake, the dispersion of their
"singular involvement" with photography by Pierre Bergé
& Associés at Drouot on 19 March will be a red-letter day.
And what a collection, it has to be said! 1,500 photographs from 1837 to the present day, with period prints
and unique or singular pictures that all reveal a skilful eye,
finely honed by knowledge of the medium and its
history. These shrewd collectors have both spotted
anonymous masterpieces and chosen rare subjects by
the great names in photography. For instance, you can
hardly miss a non-attributed daguerreotype of a "Cow
and cowman" of c. 1848 (€20,000/30,000), or the "Vanitas
with faded flowers" immortalised in around 1855 by
28
Charles Nègre (albumen print from glass negative,
€30,000/40,000). These collectors have patiently built up
a genuine overview of the so-called "primitive" period,
from Nièpce (family archives) to Camille Silvy ("Order of
the day, Army of Italy", 1859, salt and albumen print, estimated at €40,000/60,000), not to mention Gustave
Legray and his circle. But they have not neglected the
following decades, as witness a delightful portrait – taken
on the sly? – of Henri Cartier-Bresson by George Platt
Lynes (1935, €10,000/15,000), the New York skyscrapers
shot by Sherril Schell (€10,000/12,000) and, far closer to
home, two pictures from the "Vacuité(s)" series (2001 and
2004, around €1,500 each) by the Frenchman Philippe
Petremant.
Cécile Camille
HD
Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), "Autoportrait avec sa
chienne Polaire dans l'atelier", circa 1921, silver proof,
23.9 x 18 cm. Another proof kept at the MNAM-Centre
Pompidou bears the same two round stains in the centre,
which must therefore come from an alteration of the
original negative. Estimate: €10,000/12,000.
>
FL AUCTION PRESTIGE
HÔTEL MEURICE
WEDNESDAY 25th MARCH 2015, 5PM
LARGE PAINTINGS – FINE JEWELLERY BOX – ASIAN ART –
EXCEPTIONAL ROYAL FURNITURE
Pair of flacon vases on a base with
wide latticed body, shoulders decorated with lotus branches and moveable
rings. Fine spinach-green jade. China,
Qing dynasty, 18th-19th century,
20.5 cm x 12.5 cm.
Attilio Codognato. Brooch in yellow and
grey chalcedony depicting a "Moretto"
head (a Venetian wearing a turban).
Signature chiselled on the reverse "
A. Codognato". In a box, by Codognato.
H. 10.5 cm. Gross weight: 81.32 g.
Ritual Buddhist Kalasha vase (Bemba).
Vermeil studded with semi-precious
stones. Sino-Tibetan. China, Qing dynasty, sigillate mark, Emperor Jiaqing
period (1796-1820). H. 31 cm.
Large lidded neoclassical urn in
vermeil by Carl Fabergé. Title hallmarks: 84, Moscow, circa 1880-1890.
Silversmith's hallmark: Carl Faberg,
and mark of the imperial privilege.
H. 55 - L. 37 cm. Total weight: 7.70 kg.
PUBLIC EXHIBITION FROM 23th TO 25th MARCH 2015
SALON POMPADOUR - 228, RUE DE RIVOLI 75001 PARIS
Catalogue available on request
Large mantelpiece clock in white
marble and chiselled gilt bronze,
"L'étude et la philosophie" or "Les arts
et les sciences", after the sculptor
Boizot, by Gouthière. Ep. L. XVI.
H. 62.5, L. 69 cm, D. 14.4 cm.
Jewellery: specialist Caroline PIETRI
Furniture and objets d’art:
specialist Xavier de CLERVAL
Asian art: specialist Bernard GOMEZ
Dresser with divided front with mahogany
highlights and mahogany veneer, rectangular.
Adornments in chiselled gilt bronze. White
grey-vein marble, cavetto moulding. Hallmark
of J. F. LELEU (qualified as master cabinetmaker on 19 September 1764). Louis XVI period.
Circa 1770 - 1780. H. 92 cm, L. 129, D. 63 cm.
FL AUCTION - Fromentin & Associés
3, rue d’Amboise - 75002 Paris - Tel. + 33 1 42 60 87 87
[email protected] - www.fl-auction.com - Authorisation N°2002 - 306
HD
>
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), "Pause between two poses",
Silver halide print, 1989, 18.6 x 27.8 cm (detail). Handwritten
dedication: "To Olga, in memory of Georg Esler, with all my
affection, Henri". Photographer's stamp on the back,
no. 14712/5A. Estimate: €10,000/12,000.
32
Pierre-Marc
Richard,
second sale
It often happens that the specialist's passion coincides
with the collector's, as with Pierre-Marc Richard:
a figure well-known to photography lovers.
An eloquent expert generous with his advice, he is
discreet to the point of secrecy about the discoveries
he has amassed over forty-odd years. These were
partly revealed in 2011 during the sale of his collection
at Drouot by the Beaussant-Lefevre auction house: a
first section that garnered €1,433,878, confirming the
rude health of primitive photography. On 25 March,
the same auction house (this time assisted by expert
Philippe Jacquier) is offering the second section,
which highlights a number of anonymous practitioners as well as the top names. With portraits of African
tribes, landscapes and macabre views, these pictures
by unknown artists bear witness to a natural curiosity
for the image. Pierre-Marc Richard proves his keen eye
for the picturesque, the weird and the sublime with
every print, whether by a famous or a completely
25
unknown photographer. "I seek out unknown pictures
by famous photographers, and pictures by unknowns
that will one day be famous," says the collector. Reflecting this spirit, the second sale is organised into
themes setting off works by unknown and wellknown photographers – for example, a shrunken head
of Jivaro by an anonymous artist (€1,500/2,000) and a
Greek head found at Camirros by Auguste Salzmann
(€2,000/3,000), or two nudes by Henri Cartier-Bresson
and a nude of Violette Nozière, captured by an
unknown photographer in December 1932, a year
before she was arrested for murder (€800/1,000).
33
Foujita,
early period
26
Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita is best-known for his
pictures of cats and delicate young girls, and his selfportraits. Still lifes, particularly vases of flowers, are far
rarer on the market: an asset that ought to whet appetites. Coming from a Belgian collection, the watercolour here will be on offer at a Paris sale (Ader Nordmann) dedicated to Old Master and modern drawings.
It belongs to Foujita's so-called early period: a time of
intense exploration and change for the artist, who had
left his native Japan several years earlier. 1917, the
year he painted this still life, brought him his first
successes. His first solo exhibition at the Chéron
Gallery in June of the same year was a triumph, when
34
he sold all his paintings and drawings. The gallery
even commissioned a second exhibition for the following October, which consisted of watercolours alone.
Foujita was then working exclusively on paper,
because he was short of money: his income from
Japan had dried up when the First World War broke
out. Deeply attached to his roots, he decided to
mingle his native traditions and Western culture with
symbolic flowers: the peony beloved by the Japanese,
and the daisies that flourished in Europe. The work is
disconcerting because of its composition and lack of
perspective – no doubt the result of his meeting
Picasso…
HD
Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968),
"Vase of flowers", 1917, watercolour,
signed and dated on the bottom right,
36 x 24 cm.
Estimate: €8,000/10,000.
>
HD
>
Hubert Robert (1733-1808), "View of Saint Peter's
Square in Rome through Bernini's colonnade",
oil on canvas, 33 x 33 cm (detail).
Estimate: €80,000/120,000.
36
Grandchamp
des Raux collection
Around fifty 18th-century paintings, estimated at
around €5 million, are leaving the collection of the
businessman Louis Grandchamp des Raux, who used
to own the faience works at Gien. A passionate, even
insatiable art lover, he would pore over sales catalogues and La Gazette Drouot and endlessly attend
public auctions in both Paris and the provinces.
The result is impressive. The dispersion of this selection, staged by Sotheby's in association with Artcurial,
opens with quiet everyday scenes by Northern European schools (Van Hulsdonck, Soreau and Van Dael)
from the family collection. Chosen by our collector,
a small "Bowl of plums" by Jacques Linard (€80,000)
is found alongside two still lifes by Louise Moillon,
a painter with around forty extant works who anticipated a certain Jean Siméon Chardin's art by a century.
Pierre-Antoine Lemoine is another French artist whose
work has a certain flavour, as witness a table generously laid with fruit, vine leaves and a Chinese porcelain vase, where he makes striking use of chiaroscuro.
26
Animals, another favourite subject in still lifes, feature
prominently in the work of François Desportes (16611743), the first French artist to introduce the theme
into his work. Five paintings are now going to auction,
including a portrait of Louis XIV's dogs Bonne, Nonne
and Ponne ("Hunting scene with dogs, partridges and
pheasants"; €300,000), a finely honed sketch of a painting in the Musée de la Chasse in Paris. Last but not
least, we find the irresistible charms of Anne VallayerCoster's graceful "Portrait of a woman with violin" and
Hubert Robert's poetic "View of Saint Peter's Square in
Rome”, combining grandeur with simplicity (see
photo): two dreamily reflective works that make
appealing use of colour.
Claire Papon
37
Dalí at the
Wailing Wall
27
Like every Spaniard, Salvador Dalí had his mystical
side. Of course, with him, it became positively
phantasmagorical. Religious subjects - the Last
Supper, Crucifixions and Madonnas – abound in
his work. For twenty years or so he worked particularly on his Bible, whose publication in 1969
was a major event. The artist studied Judaic
themes and took a keen interest in Jerusalem, the
city sacred to the three religions of the Book.
38
Known mainly in its lithograph version, the
"Wailing Wall" started life as a painting, and was
even signed in front of the TV cameras during a
splendid Dalian show at the Hôtel Meurice, his
Paris residence. This painting will be presented
(with its estimate of €400,000/500,000) on 27
March at Drouot by the Kapandji–Morhange
auction house, assisted by the Perazzone-Brun art
appraisal firm.
Anne Foster
HD
>
Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), “Wailing
Wall”, oil on canvas and mixed
technique, on canvas, signed and
dated (detail).
Estimate: €400,000/500,000.
39
MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART
Authorisation n°: 2002-170 / Photo & graphic design: Maltese.fr
SATURDAY 14 MARCH 2015
2.30pm (GMT +1)
CHU TEH-CHUN (1920 - 2014), ZHU Dequn Composition n° 535, 1973
Oil on canvas, signed and dated
100 x 73 cm.
(certificate of authenticity signed by M. Yvon CHU, son of the artist)
Private exhibition by appointment only
D. ABRAHM / Y. AGAM / G. ANEZIN / A. ANTOYAN / BANKSY / H. BATISTA / M. BATTLE / E. BELLINI / B. BUFFET / B. CANTAIS / CESAR / R. CHAILLOUX /
G. P. CHAUDER / CHANOIR / CHU TEH-CHUN / J.-L. COSTES / V. CRISTALLI / S. DALI / F. DEBAINS / J.-L. DESSET / H. DI ROSA / J. DUBREUIL / EB5 /
S. ENCAOUA /A. EROM / ERRO / M. FABRE / P. GAULD / J.-M. GNIDZAZ / D. GROOVER / C. J. HARRISON / S. HELENON / HRASARKOS / V. ISNARD / JAKE /
JANSI / K’ZAS / J.-J. KATAN / L. KIJNO / A. KOUPETZIAN / R. LICHTENSTEIN / C. LONGI / A. LOUMANI / MAJ / L. MARINO / J.-J. MORVAN / S. MOULOUDJI /
P. MOYA / E. MUNSCH / OSSO / W. PARKER / PINKHAS / S. PLAGNOL / SEEN / F. STOKHUYSEN / T. TESTOT-FERRY / LA TÉTINE NOIRE / L. TRABUC / A. WATZL
11/13 rue de Lorgues – 13008 Marseille
Tél.+33 (0)4 91 32 39 00 – Fax+33 (0)4 91 79 21 61 – E-mail: [email protected]
HD
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Sèvres, 1818, twelve plates, two round fruit
bowls and a sugar bowl with underdish from
the Duc de Narbonne service, blue Sèvres mark
and royal initials from the 1814-1824 period,
decoration by Jacques Sinsson.
Estimate: €12,000/15,000.
42
Neoclassical
selection
28
The Duc de Narbonne-Pelet was appointed the king's
ambassador to the court at Naples in 1817, and occupied the post for four years before becoming Minister
of State. When he and his wife moved to the Kingdom
of the Two Sicilies, they commissioned a porcelain
service from the Sèvres factory, "with a brown nankeen
frieze background and a bouquet of flowers in the
centre". Twelve plates, two round fruit bowls and a
sugar bowl with underdish from this service (bearing
the blue Sèvres mark and royal initials from the 18141824 period) are going up for sale on 28 March in Dijon
(Vregille-Cortot auction house, Mr. Bacot). These
superb pieces with polychrome floral decoration by
Jacques Sinsson will be selling for around
€12,000/15,000. Neoclassicism is also much in the spot-
light with Hubert Robert (1733-1808). A pair of oils on
canvas by the painter of ruins, an exponent of the
Italian landscape school, will be going for
€30,000/40,000 ("Enfants jouant devant une façade en
ruine" and "Personnages sous une fenêtre d'un
château"). We now leave Italy for Tsarist Russia with a
portrait painted on copper of Empress Catherine II
(1729-1796) in mourning, wearing the Order of Saint
Andrew (€12,000/15,000). The work is attributed to Virgilius Eriksen (1722-1782), painter to King Christian III of
Denmark, who also worked at the St Petersburg court
between 1757 and 1772. He painted around 30 official
portraits of Catherine II, including this very intimate one,
shortly after the assassination of her husband Peter III on
Caroline Legrand
17 July 1762.
43
The private world
of Bonnard
29
A few days after the opening of the retrospective "Pierre
Bonnard, peintre de l'Arcadie" (Bonnard: Painting
Arcadia), at the Musée d'Orsay, the Osenat auction
house at Fontainebleau is offering enthusiasts a
hundred-odd pieces recalling the painter, owned until
now by the family of the artist's great-nephew, Antoine
Terrasse. As well as drawings, a number of personal
objects evoke Bonnard's world, including his palette
(€3,000/5,000). The sale covers several themes, from the
family circle to La Revue blanche, his explorations of the
feminine and the landscapes and still lifes he loved to
paint. This multifaceted talent, particularly evident in his
drawings, in his sculptures and the books he illustrated.
A co-founder of the Nabi movement, throughout his
career he used a range of warm, bright but never
violent colours can also be seen in to highlight the
poetry of his subjects. One marvellous example is
44
"Pêches immortalisées", an oil on canvas of around 1916
(€200,000/300,000). Making play with light, he gently
and subtly fashioned his subjects, using the muted light
of evening to immortalise Charles and Jean Terrasse
bent over a children's book in 1900 (€300,000/400,000).
This scene belongs to the myriad joys of an everyday life
where the members of his family are the chief players,
as we see in an 1899 oil on carton of Renée Terrasse as a
little girl, cuddling a cat (€400,000/500,000). Alongside
these stolen moments, some portraits are also up for
sale, including one of the artist at 22 gazing
earnestly into the viewer's eyes, painted in 1889
(€200,000/300,000). After graduating in law, he studied
at the Académie Julian. This first self-portrait brings to
mind something Antoine Terrasse once said: "The essential is always in suspension, somewhere between
silence and the spoken word."
Sophie Reyssat
HD
>
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), "First self-portrait",
1889, oil on carton, 21 x 17 cm.
Estimate: €200,000/300,000.
45
Independent higher education
establishment Drouot Formation offers
a professional degree course.
DROUOT
FORMATION
At the same time, many lectures,
workshops, evening classes and tours
of the auction house are organised
all year round.
www.drouot-formation.com
ACADEMY OF
THE ART MARKET
DROUOT FORMATION
12, rue Drouot 75009 Paris | +33 (0)1 48 00 22 54 | www.drouot.com
HD
>
>
Lé Phô (1907-2001),"Mother and Child",
ink and gouache on silk mounted on
paper, signed and dated 1942,
46 x 37.8 cm.
Estimate: €80,000/120,000.
48
Modern and
contemporary
artists
30
The Aguttes auction house is killing two birds with one
stone with a double sale at Drouot: one dedicated to
modern art, the other to photography and contemporary art. As well as the works by Maurice Utrillo,
Lin Fengmian and José Cruz-Herrera presented in the
first room, art lovers can admire a peaceful village
scene by a watering place painted by Henri Le Sidaner
in c. 1885 (€60,000/80,000), or linger over this charming mother and child in ink and gouache on silk by
Lé Phô, from 1942 (€80,000/120,000). One of Vietnam's
most famous 20th century artists, he belonged to the
first generation of Vietnamese painters to graduate
from to the Fine Arts School of Indochina. In 1937, Lé
Phô moved to France to complete his studies in Paris.
Like the painting here, his delicately-rendered pictures
echo primitive Italian Renaissance figures, and are
influenced by the Impressionists and Symbolists. In the
second room, the presentation highlights the huge
gap between a geometric composition by Georges
Folmer from 1963-1964 (€15,000/20,000) and "New
York Subway", printed on metallic paper by the artist
Yves Bady Al-Dahdah (€6,000/8,000).
Sophie Reyssat
49
Narrative
Figuration
31
Cornette de Saint Cyr auction house is banking on
Narrative Figuration with this sale dedicated exclusively to the movement's exponents, seven years after
the famous exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris and
five years after the one dedicated to Erró at the Centre
Pompidou. As it happens, the selection gives pride
of place to this "formidable predator of images", who
advocated the return to image and narrative during
the 1960s, when abstraction was on the decline.
The sale includes this "Le Jugement de Paris et l'école
de Montmartre", a large, lively canvas from 1967
recently discovered in a foreign collection
(€100,000/150,000), along with "Relaxing Vibrations",
painted four years earlier (€25,000/30,000), "Platino"
from the series "The Girls of 1940-1971" (1972,
€25,000/35,000) and "Krilov" from the Eric Stanton
series (€30,000/50,000). While some still consider this
a quintessentially French movement, Stéphane
50
Corréard, director of the contemporary art department, disagrees: "Far from being a purely Gallic movement, Narrative Figuration was a response to the
reproducible, logo-based painting developed by
American Pop artists (…); in fact, it was a melting pot
for artists from all over the world." As a result, the
sale's dramatis personae includes the Spanish artist
Edouardo Arroyo, represented by the 1979 acrylic
"JMBW IV" (€5,000/7,000), the German artist Peter
Klasen, with "Nu + Interrupteur combinés" from 1939
(€40,000/60,000), and a "Boxer" from 1967 by the
Italian artist Valerio Adami (€25,000/35,000).
A 1966 painting by the Haitian artist Hervé Télémaque, "L'Espion"(€60,000/80,000), will also be on
offer. The Centre Pompidou is dedicating an exhibition to him until mid-May. When museums focus on
an artist, the market follows suit!
HD
Erró (aka Guðmundur Guðmundsson)
(born 1932), "Le Jugement de Paris
et l'école de Montmartre", 1967,
oil on canvas, 300 x 200 cm.
Estimate: €70,000/90,000.
a
aUctIon
resUlts
W
Paris, capital
of collectors' cars
Over three sales, the speciality took €87 million:
a segment that clearly runs on gold!
HD
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / AUCTION RESULTS
4 February / Place Vauban / RM Auctions
This week's multimillion-raising car marathon got off to a roaring start with the €19,353,750 (82%
of lots) made by this sale, the second staged in France by RM Auctions, an American auction house
specialising in high-end cars and recently partnered with Sotheby’s. Four racing cars crossed the
million-euro threshold, with a 1963 model taking the lead at €1,624,000: a highly-coveted 1963
front-engine Ferrari, the 250 GT/L "Lusso" Berlinetta. Its last cosmetic overhaul was in the 1980s,
but it benefits from having its original V12 engine. We can also mention another Ferrari: a 1990
F40, which changed hands for €1,050,000 with less than 1,200 km on the clock – some driven on
a special track in the garage of the owner, who ran it like this for maintenance purposes. Worth
noting: this is one of the manufacturer's legendary models: the last one scheduled by Enzo Ferrari.
HD
5 February / Grand Palais / Bonhams
Under the glass roof of the Grand Palais, bids spiralled for the collectors’ cars offered by
Bonhams. The final result of €22 million set a new record in mainland Europe for the auction
house. Three seven-figure results were recorded, the highest of which, €1,897,500, is a new
world record for an Aston Martin DB5 cabriolet. Made in 1965, it is one of 39 original left-hand
drive cars. Its original engine was recently renovated and its bodywork restored; both the
interior and the hood retain their patina. It has only done 37,000 km since the day it was delivered to the heiress to the Boettcher fortune in the US.
HD
6 February / Salon Retromobile, Porte de Versailles / Artcurial-Briest-Poulian-F. Tajan
Artcurial had a real head start on its Parisian competitors, pocketing €46 million (89% of lots) from this car sale. Several world records were set, notably by
a Maserati A6G 2000 Grand Sport from 1956 (€2,010,880) and a 1968 Bizzarini 5300 GT Strada (€1,244,400). Jacques Baillon's renowned collection of "barn
finds" alone took €25.15 million, with six resounding seven-figure bids and nine new world records. The Baillon collection contained the most hotlycontested treasure, a 1961 Ferrari 250 GTB California Spider that belonged to both Gerard Blain and Alain Delon, which fetched €16,288,000: a new world
record for the model. Only 37 were produced, and this is the only one in its original condition, untouched for 45 years. The original side indicator lights were
Sylvain Alliod
even found in a box under the passenger seat: they were changed when Delon exported the car to the US.
55
< €50,000
In France
A
B
C
D
HD
A €37,500
Edgar Degas (1834-1917), "Cheval s’enlevant sur
l’obstacle", bronze with black patina, cast by Valsuani,
h. 29 cm.
Chaville, 15 February, Chaville Enchères auction
house.
B €41,250
Raymond Templier (1891-1968), circa 1930,
plaque brooch in platinum and grey gold with
antique-cut diamonds and onyx, gross weight 23.10 g.
Paris, Drouot, 28 January, Chochon-Barré
& Allardi auction house. Mr. Martin.
C €44,660
Pablo Picasso, "Personnage au chapeau", iron wire
and cork, h. 11.2 cm.
Paris, Drouot, 23 January, Tajan auction house.
Ms Lamort.
D €19,778
Louis XVI period, stamped by Nicolas Petit, writing
desk in tulip wood veneer with kingwood surrounds,
F
E
with marquetry and gilt bronze ornamentation,
marble top, 144 x 93 x 39 cm.
Paris, Drouot, 28 January, Massol auction house.
E €22,320
Tellem, Mali. Hermaphrodite statue in heavy wood
with thick crackled scabby patina, h. 48 cm.
La Varenne-Saint-Hilaire, 8 February, Lombrail,
Teucquam auction house. Mr. Dufour.
F €27,500
Alfred De Dreux (1810-1860), "L’Écossais au renard",
oil on canvas, 46 x 33 cm.
Paris, Drouot, 29 January, Beaussant-Lefèvre
auction house. Mr. de Louvencourt,
Ms Sevestre-Barbé.
€21,243
The Teotihuacan culture of Guerrero was represented
in the sale of a collection by this statue in serpentine,
dating from between 350 and 950. Estimated at
€6,000/€8,000, it finally went for €21,243. Teotihuacan
was the largest city in pre-Columbian America. Located
close to modern-day Mexico, it was probably built in
300 BC, and reached its apogee in around 450 AD
before declining in the 6th century, perhaps because
climatic changes affected the food resources. It was
long thought that the city had been attacked in the 7th
or 8th century, but it is more likely that it fell victim to
civilian riots. At the end of the 1980s, a Canadian
academic, Louise Paradis, suggested that Mezcala
stone cutters of Guerrero may have carved the famous
green rock masks found in the city for export, doing so
either inside the city or directly on site. Digs carried out
in the Costa Grande region in Guerrero by Mexico's
National Institute of Anthropology and History in the
2000s revealed that the Mezcala were not the only
group to have had economic and cultural interaction
with Teotihuacan, as witness the style of the pottery
fragments discovered. The two sculptures in this sale
each demonstrate in their own way how far
the influence of the "city of the gods" extended.
Last year, digs conducted in the sacred tunnel below
the pyramid of Quetzalcoatl unearthed new
discoveries, including four green stone statues
surrounded by thousands of jade pearls, pyrite
spheres and the remains of big cats. Teotihuacan is
decidedly full of surprises!
Sylvain Alliod
Western Mexico, 300-950, incomplete statue
in white-veined serpentine from the Teotihuacan
culture of Guerrero, h. 29.5 cm. Paris, Drouot, 10 February, Mathias
Baron-Ribeyre & Associés/Farrando auction houses. Mr. Roudillon.
€50,000  €100,000
A €75,000
Diderot (1713-1784) and D’Alembert (1717-1783),
"Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences,
des arts et des métiers", 35 volumes, Paris, 17511780, published by Le Breton, David, Durand and
Briasson.
Lyon, 31 January and 1 February, Conan Hôtel
d’Ainay auction house. Mr. Van Eecloo.
B €80,666
China, 19th century, white jade group of three ibexes
at rest, 7.5 x 12 cm.
Pau, 31 January, Gestas-Carrere Enchères
de Bourbon auction house. Mr. Ansas.
A
C €52,620
Maurice Estève (1904-2001), "Composition abstraite",
oil on canvas, dated 1952 on the back, 24 x 15.5 cm.
Lisieux, 14 February, Lisieux Enchères auction
house. Maître Brunet.
D €80,000
Pierre Jeanneret (1895-1967), seats from Chandigarh,
comprising two low fireside chairs and one bench;
teak, upholstery, 84 x 57 x 80 and 84 x 140 x 80 cm,
circa 1960.
Marseille, 2 February, Leclere auction house.
B
C
HD
D
58
€82,500
The fairs painted in the 16th and 17th centuries by the
Northern European schools are some of the genre
scenes most sought-after by enthusiasts, as with this
colourful painting. Previously part of the Thérèse
Lownes Nobel collection, it was reproduced as a Martin
Van Cleve in the monograph by Dr Klaus Ertz. The
young artist belonged to a dynasty of Flemish artists,
and studied painting under his father, Willem Van
Cleve, and Frans Floris, who had travelled in Italy. In
1551, he was admitted as master to the guild at
Antwerp, his hometown. With his brother Hendrick III,
he took up most of the themes, both sacred and
profane, which had made the family workshop so
successful. Martin Van Cleve married Maria de Greve in
1556. His fine reputation brought him many commissions from wealthy bourgeois clients; he even seems to
have specialised in scenes of feasts and entertainment,
as is the case in this painting with its precise, brilliant
style, two other versions of which are known. It depicts
village celebrations during the feast of Saint Sebastian
on 20 January; Sebastian's portrait as an officer in
Diocletian's army can be seen on a banner. The patron
of archers, he was also one of the great saints who
provided protection against the plague, using his body
as a shield. The composition's lively style combines the
picturesque with an innate sense of realism. We see a
bustling, jostling crowd, with rows of shops, stalls and
stands cluttering up the road. The painting was hotly
contested between bidders in the room and on the
phone, before finally going to a foreign buyer, within
the range of its estimate.
Chantal Humbert
Martin Van Cleve (1527-1581), "The feast of Saint Sebastian",
oak panel, three boards, reinforced, 46.5 x 86 cm.
Lille, 15 February, Mercier & Cie auction house. Mr. Millet.
59
> €100,000
A golden awakening
This statue, which had a low estimate of €20,000, shot all
the way up to €338,040 in a China vs China match. The
figure is none other than Guanyin, the most popular
goddess in the country of the Rising Sun. Originating in
India, this deity was worshipped there as Avalokiteshvara,
a bodhisattva who renounced Nirvana in order to guide
men towards spiritual awakening more effectively. Along
the paths of Buddhism, the life-saving monk took on a
female appearance when he joined the Chinese
pantheon. Her main quality is compassion, but virtue,
piety and filial love are also attributed to her, and she has
many legends to her name. In this statue, she is seated in
the pose of regal relaxation – the "rajalilasana" – with her
hands on her knees, eyes half-closed, richly adorned,
wearing a garment tied over her stomach and a mantel
over her shoulders. The bronze statue is decorated with a
layer of gold lacquer, but a much more resplendent finish
can be seen in the areas where this protective layer has
disappeared: probably mercury gilding, which is thought
to still cover most of the sculpture. Connoisseurs were
betting on it, and fought fiercely for the sacred effigy,
eager to restore its former lustre!
Sophie Reyssat
€338,040
China, bronze statue of Guanyin, Ming period,
16th century, h. 56 cm.
Goxe, Belaisch, 1 February, Enghien sale room.
Mr. Thierry Portier.
HD
C
B
A €113,760
Circa 1787, redingote dress, cotton satin and silk,
high-waisted skirt with small, narrow pleats.
Paris, Drouot, 4 February, Thierry de Maigret
auction house. Ms Experton-Dard.
D €312,480
Morocco, Fes, 14th century, by Muhammad ibn
Qasim al-Qurtubi, brass astrolabe, diam. 25.2 cm.
Drouot, 2 February, Tessier Sarrou & Associés
auction house. Mr. Turner.
B €152,500
1925 Hispano-Suiza H6, chassis no. 11263,
engine no. 301284.
La Trinité, 3 February, Nice Riviera auction
house sale room. Mr. Pluton.
A
C €125,000
China, celadon jade with rust-red veins, depicting a
guardian of Buddhism seated on a rock, holding a
stylised lotus, h. 11 cm.
Louviers, 15 February, Jean-Emmanuel Prunier
auction house. Cabinet Portier.
D
This astrolabe from 14th-century Maghreb did not lose its way: estimated at no more than
€80,000, it finally fetched €312,480. It is remarkable for several reasons. First, it has an
inscription detailing the name of its maker (one Muhammad ibn Qasim al-Qurtubi), where
it was made (Fes) and the year (the 719th year of the Hegira calendar in the month of
"joumada", i.e. May 1319). Although produced in the Kingdom of Fes, it is different from
instruments of the same type made at the time, with a number of characteristics of AlAndalus astrolabes from the previous generation. For example, the date it gives for the
Sylvain Alliod
Spring Equinox is that of the 12th century.
RESULTS
In the world
A £2,882,500
Ai Weiwei, "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads",
2010, gilt bronze, number 7 from an edition
of 8 plus 4 artist's proofs.
London, 12 February, Phillips.
B £15,538,500
Joan Miró (1893-1983), "Painting (Women, Moon,
Birds)", signed oil on canvas painted in 1950,
114 x 146 cm.
London, 4 February, Christie’s.
C €30,453
A Lega Ivory Figure, Democratic Republic
of the Congo, arms carved in relief on the torso
with the hands joined on the abdomen, the eyes
and breasts as dotted circlets, golden patina, 7 cm.
Brussels, 27 January, Lempertz.
A
D €101,000
Pair of Louis XV style plinths in marquetry
with foliage and flower decoration from the Louis XV
Alain Ducasse restaurant.
Monte-Carlo, 25-30 January, Artcurial
Briest - Poulain - F. Tajan.
B
C
HD
D
With initial estimates doubled, 100% of lots sold to buyers from all over the world (in terms of volume,
foreign purchases represented 75% of the results), 2,230 purchase orders, 1,820 telephone bids and
20% of lots acquired online, there was no end to the fine figures of this sale: a largely predictable
triumph. The final total of €3.07 million would have been impossible in other circumstances, but this
involved the partial dispersion of the contents of Monaco's legendary Hôtel de Paris (Artcurial-BriestPoulain- F. Tajan), haunted by the spirits of the multifarious celebrities who stayed there. So it was no
surprise to see €101,000 go to a pair of plinths in the style of Louis XV, which once graced the restauXavier Narbaïts
rant of the same name.
62
D
HD
$27,500
François Kollar, "Double-Impression of the Eiffel
Tower", silver print, 1931.
New York, 19 February, Swann Auction Galleries.
$929,983
Prints of Paris by a German photographer were the highlight of this decidedly international photography auction at
Swann Galleries in New York on 20 February, which took a total of $929,983. Helmut Newton's "Portrait of Karl Lagerfeld
in Paris" from 1976 stole the show at $75,000: a record for this photograph at auction (according to auction house).
Newton worked for French Vogue, and was the subject of a retrospective at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2012. Taschen
published a book of his works in 1999, with a record number of 464 pages, and a signed first edition of this was sold for
$15,000, nearly tripling its low estimate. Paris also featured in a print by François Kollar, whose 1931 view of the Eiffel
Tower went for $27,500 (photo): a new record for the artist at auction (source: Artnet), which doubled its original estimate. These top lots were all acquired by collectors, many of whom were new to the auction house.
Tom Dyer
64
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / AUCTION RESULTS
A
B
C
D
A $5,317,000
Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691 - 1765), "Rome,
The Pantheon, A View Of The Interior Towards
The Piazza Della Rotonda", signed with initials
and dated at the foot of the column lower right:
"I.P.P. 1732", oil on canvas, 119 x 98.4 cm.
New York, 29 January, Sotheby’s.
B £37,500
Sir Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower,
vintage silver print (approx. 280 x 355 mm),
signed by Churchill, signed and dedicated
by Eisenhower ("For Captain Christopher Soames
with personal regards, Dwight D. Eisenhower"),
probably Washington, DC, 25-28 June 1954,
framed and glazed.
London, 17 December, Sotheby’s.
D £10.78M
Claude Monet (1840 - 1926), "Les peupliers à
Giverny", signed "Claude Monet" (lower left), 1887,
oil on canvas, 74 x 92.7 cm.
London, 3 February, Sotheby’s.
HD
With a memorable result of £186.44 million, this sale was a record. And it was an Impressionist,
Claude Monet, who came up trumps: "Venise, le Grand Canal" (1908, £23.66M) was followed
by "Les Peupliers à Giverny" of 1887 (£10.78M), "L’Embarcadère" (1871, £10.22M) and "Antibes vue
de la Salis" of 1888 (£8.77M). The last two paintings came from the Jaime Ortiz-Patiño and Florence
Gould collections respectively.
Xavier Narbaïts
C $40,625.
Service by Jean E. Puiforcat, circa 1930, Paris,
in the Monaco pattern.
New York, 18 February, Doyle.
65
Léon Spilliaert (1881-1946), “L’Estacade“,
Chinese ink wash and coloured pencils, signed at
the top right 36.9 x 49.8 cm. Patrick Derom Gallery.
magazine
EVENT
Salon du Dessin,
museum quality
W
hen dealers and institutions get
together, divorce is not inevitable.
Sometimes they even hit it off
famously, like the Salon du Dessin
which has been enjoying a vibrant
love affair with museums for many years. Since 2011, all
its guests have been public collections. In 2007 the first
at the fair, the Paris Musée des Arts Décoratifs, exhibited some drawings by Charles de Wailly for the dressing room of Mademoiselle Contat. This year, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France is presenting a few masterpieces from its little-known collection of architectural
drawings, one of the oldest in the world (see page 72).
As we also know, the Semaine du Dessin has been brin-
68
ging a fine selection of museums together around the
speciality since 2000, and in 2015, the Centre
Pompidou, Orsay, the Louvre, the Fondation Custodia
and thirteen other institutions will be opening part of
their graphic departments to the public. We can also
see signs of perfect harmony in the fair's "Rencontres
Internationales", introduced in 2006. These talks, open
KEY FIGURE
39
The fair features 39 galleries,
19 from France and 20 from abroad.
HD
Giambattista Tiepolo (1696 - 1770),
“Study of a seated male nude”, black and red
chalks with white highlights, 42 x 29.4 cm.
Marty de Cambiaire.
>
Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903), "Nègreries Martinique",
gouache, watercolour, pen, dark blue ink and gold paint,
collage and laid paper on panel, 34.3 x 24.7 cm.
Jean Luc Baroni LTD.
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / EVENT
note
25 to 30 March, Palais Brongniart, Paris.
www.salondudessin.com/en
W
to visitors, are presented by curators and art historians.
This year they are devoted to architectural drawing,
and feature international specialists like Olivia Horsfall
Turner from the Victoria and Albert Museum, who will
be focusing on English 17th-century drawings as a
source of documentation for monuments, and Magnus
Olausson, director of the Stockholm Nationalmuseum
collections, who will be exploring the question "are
architectural drawings a playing field for the imagination or pure construction?" as regards the collaboration
between King Gustav III and his architect Louis Jean
Desprez. The scientific aspect of these meetings is
considerable, says Magnus Olausson. "Only a serious
market will inspire museums to make major purchases."
And in this respect, the Paris fair is the object of envy, as
every edition ends with a string of acquisitions. In 2014,
an architectural plan by Hans Vredeman de Vries,
presented by the Paul Prouté Gallery, joined the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York,
"Brooklyn Bridge", an ink and wash drawing by Albert
Gleizes from the Zlotowski Gallery, those of the LACMA
in Los Angeles, and a delightful self-portrait by Henri
Fantin-Latour from Talabardon & Gautier, those of the
Art Institute of Chicago. Once again, American
museums proved highly active. And the organisers are
optimistic as regards the new edition: the USA is still the
leading market in the speciality.
Outstanding drawings in 2015
This year, who will have the honour of seeing one of
their works join a major international collection?
Perhaps the Paris gallery Éric Coatalem, which is offering a black chalk, pen and brown wash "Marriage of
the Virgin Mary" by Gian Domenico Tiepolo from 1792,
or the Artur Ramon Gallery in Barcelona, which is exhi-
biting a study of heads in sanguine, black chalk and ink
by Salvador Rosa… Lovers of Old Master drawings are
also sure to linger at the Italian gallery Francesco Antonacci Damiano Lapiccirella Fine Art, which has two
pencil drawings from c. 1672 by Charles Le Brun of
"Night and Dawn". Over the years, with 16th, 17th and
18th century drawings now increasingly rare, the 19th
century has inevitably become more desirable. Today,
this is the kingpin section of the fair. Modern works are
well-represented, but the trend has not intensified
compared with last year, says the president, Louis de
Bayser. Like his colleagues, he prefers a high-quality
selection of 19th-century and modern works to a weak
Old Masters section – as we can see from an enchanting Paul Gauguin at Jean-Luc Baroni, "Nègreries Martinique", in gouache, watercolour, pen and dark blue ink,
typifying the spirit of the artist of the Tropics, or an
equally iconic landscape by Léon Spilliaert at Patrick
Derom. In this 1907 Indian ink wash and coloured
pencil drawing of the famous dyke at Ostende, "L’Estacade", the Belgian artist makes play with perspective
and empty space to create a dramatic atmosphere
accentuated further by his use of light. Amazing. We
can also mention a still life by Jean Hélion at Antoine
Laurentin, featuring some of his favourite objects, the
umbrella and the pumpkin (described by the artist as
the "golden fruit"): a work which contributes to a wellstocked 20th-century section, together with those of
Frank Kupka at the Galérie de la Présidence and
Fernand Léger at David Tunick. And all this is only a
prelude to a highly specialised selection that, as every
year, promises a wealth of discoveries.
KEY DATES
1991 - Creation of the Salon du Dessin on the initiative of several Paris
dealers.
2006 - The fair introduces the "Rencontres Internationales", and reports of
the seminars are published.
2007 - The fair hosts a public collection: drawings from the Musée des Arts
Décoratifs.
71
EVENT / GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL
Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728-1799),
"Design for Newton's Cenotaph"
(perspective elevation), night-time view,
1784, black pencil, grey wash, border in
brown ink, 39.4 x 64.5 cm.
The BNF,
guest of the Salon du Dessin
For the second year running, the Salon du Dessin is
providing a chance to admire and study architectural
drawing, a speciality within a speciality. After the
Nancy Musée des Beaux-arts, which presented a selection from its graphic department last year, including
works from the Thuillier donation, the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France is responding to the invitation by
exhibiting forty-odd extraordinary drawings from littleknown sources. We talk to Sylvie Aubenas, director of
the Print and Photography Department, Barbara
Brejon de Lavergnée, its librarian, and Marc Le Cœur,
art historian and the curator of the exhibition.
Which works have been selected for this hang?
We wanted to reflect the extraordinary breadth and
variety of the BnF's collections in terms of architectural
drawings. The selection covers five centuries: the
oldest drawing is by Androuet du Cerceau from
around 1570, and the most recent by Théo Sardnal, a
pupil of Auguste Perret. This drawing of the hydroelectric power station at Donzère-Mondragon, now classified as a Historic Monument, is dated 1952. Through
this extensive timespan, the presentation covers all
72
HD
>
73
René Binet (1866-1911), "Design for bridge with tower", title
(in capitals) COURONNEMENT/DE TOURS, black pencil, 49 x 31.8 cm.
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / EVENT
periods equally, and all the great French architects are
represented (although a work by Piranesi is also
included). So in a room of 60 m2 we can see a considerable chunk of France's architectural history!
The exhibition also shows the sheer variety of architectural drawing. From simple sketches scribbled by
artists on the corner of a table to magnificent renderings designed for presentation to the public, we find
a huge range of architectural drawings, including
sketches, working documents produced for entrepreneurs and detailed plans of ancient foreign monuments in Italy, Egypt, Mexico and China. We go on a
journey in time and space. The exhibition should
appeal to novices too. Not everyone is familiar with
the flat projection code, with its plans, sections and
elevations… It can be very abstract. But here the
works selected demonstrate, despite these codes, that
an architectural drawing is not only a document with
an archival character but also a work of art with its
own aesthetic value.
Did the National Library buy any works in previous
fairs?
We have bought relatively little at the Salon du
Dessin, but in 2011 we acquired a drawing by a 17th
century artist, Claude Simpol. This drawing of a
gathering of peasants was engraved – our buying
policy involves drawings of all periods, but they must
have a connection with prints. We buy works from
dealers and at the Drouot sale room. We have an
incredible collection, which is as big in digital terms
as the drawing department at the Louvre. At Drouot,
we bought some magnificent drawings by Grégoire
Huret and François Chauveau, and a coronation of
Louis XIII by François Quesnel. In the spring of 2014,
these were displayed at the BnF Richelieu site in an
exhibition devoted to French 17th -century drawings
from the Print Department. It featured a number of
fine architectural drawings, including one by
Mansart. The fact that we focus on engravings means
that we can still find affordable 17th-century
drawings – for example, a work by Pierre Paul Sevin,
active under Louis XIV. The great masters of French
painting are still expensive, but we manage to buy
some marvellous pieces in lesser-known, less wellworked areas.
How do you see this event and the drawing market
in general?
We have a great deal of admiration for this fair, which
has become the great world event for drawings. All the
curators of foreign museums turn up. These colleagues
of ours make use of the occasion to come and see our
drawings and prints in the department. It's a tremendously successful fair, and now the "Rencontres Internationales" are contributing still further to it. The scientific
aspect is a remarkable bonus. In addition, these talks
have attracted a lot of interest, and have always been
entrusted to art historians, academics and museum
curators, so they are fascinating study days. The topics
for discussion are always highly relevant, and show
that drawing is not only the work of artists working for
kings, but involves every area. As regards the drawing
market, it seems very healthy – better than for prints.
You can see from the prices! At Drouot, we wanted to
buy a drawing by Pierre Brébiette, a marvellous etcher
in the time of Louis XIII, but the bids rocketed, and in
the end it went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York.
Interview by Stéphanie Perris-Delmas
Other architectural collections
throughout the world
The Royal Institute of British Architects in London
has a collection of extraordinary architectural
drawings, mainly by British architects.
In the Netherlands, the NAI (Netherlands Architecture
Institute) is a collection of works by mainly
Dutch artists covering the 19th and 20th centuries.
Also worth noting: the Canadian Centre
for Architecture, a private institution founded in 1979.
75
INTERVIEW
An international
Musée d'Orsay
Olivier Simmat
76
© Photo Nicolas Krief
Olivier Simmat, advisor to the President and Director
of Sponsorship and International Relations for the
Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie, receives
us in his Paris office. Between flights, he looks back over
a programme of unfailingly successful events, involving three or four exhibitions each year. These act as
the museum's extra-mural flagship, and their profits
are finally making it possible to restore Gustave Courbet's famous "Atelier".
Can you tell us about this policy for exhibitions
abroad?
International exhibitions have always existed, in a more
unobtrusive way and with less media coverage than
nowadays. But the museum's collections have always
moved around. However, we ramped up this policy
seven years ago when Guy Cogeval took over management of the museum with the goal of the "New Orsay",
25 years after the museum first opened. This project
had to be paid for through self-financing and sponsor-
HD
>
© Musée d'Orsay / Sophie Boegly
Impressionists Gallery at the
Musée d'Orsay, museology
of the New Orsay designed
by Jean-Michel Wilmotte,
building work for which was
financed substantially
by international exhibitions.
INTERVIEW / GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL
"Beyond Impressionism: the birth of modern art",
exhibition presented at the National Museum of
Korea in Seoul, 5 May to 31 August 2014.
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / INTERVIEW
Rights reserved
ship, not with State subsidies, so the machine needed
to get moving again. This programme is now a fundamental part of the museum's budget, and represents
the equivalent of corporate sponsorship each year. It's
part of the structure.
Can you tell us about the financial aspect?
Depending on the audiences expected, the Musée
d'Orsay makes an indirect profit on the ticketing,
negotiated at a flat rate. So the partners either take
their chances and reimburse their input from admissions, or obtain financing from their own sponsors.
This is a considerable income for us, and has in fact
become our main source of revenue – more than the
takings from exhibitions at the Paris museum. These
big international exhibitions are huge financial operations. In the USA, for example, two exhibitions staged
successively at San Francisco's De Young Museum
attracted over 770,000 visitors. With an average ticket
price of $23 (admission and spin-off products) I'll leave
you to work out the turnover for the operation! In
Brazil, the exhibition “Paris at the Time of the Impressionists” was entirely paid for by the foundation of a
sponsor bank, and admission was free for the 870,000
visitors. We prefer this type of partnership – free entry
for the public and watertight financial cover. It's the
ideal scenario. All the renovation work at the New
Orsay has been self-financed by these large-scale
international exhibitions. During the two-year period
when the galleries were closed for alterations, we
were able to take out the museum's absolute masterpieces for “The Birth of Impressionism” and “PostImpressionism”, which were on tour for a year. We are
lucky in that we have one of the world's most soughtafter collections.
How do you choose your subjects?
The large majority of exhibitions, like the ones we
stage within the museum, involve scientific exchanges
of works between museums, with no money involved.
A single exhibition can mean up to a hundred different
lenders. The top directors of museums in the Bizot
Group [the international group of large-scale exhibition organisers – Ed.] divide up the main subjects of
80
KEY FIGURE
1.6M
In 2014, the exhibitions staged abroad by the Musée d'Orsay
attracted 1.6 million visitors.
exhibitions. However, we also receive requests from
places that have no collections and thus cannot
exchange works. In those cases, we set up all-inclusive
exhibitions from our collections alone, without any
external loans, and work with one or two curators. We
then provide the catalogue, the notices for the rooms,
the teaching tools and so on. These events enable us to
present our collection outside France, to bring in
foreign currency, and to increase our visitor numbers in
Paris, because they enhance our reputation with
foreign tourists.
And talking of figures…
The second largest Asian group, after Japan,
is currently Korea. We are going to be translating our
guides and audioguides especially for this audience.
In Korea, for example, when our collaboration first
started, the Musée d'Orsay's awareness rate was 3%.
Twenty years on, it is over 65%. It's the same with Brazil.
Ten years ago, very few Brazilians visited the museum.
After an exhibition at Sao Paulo and Rio, we achieved
a rate of 3%. The combination of the term "Impressionism" and the Musée d'Orsay works very well abroad.
Do foreign audiences have favourite subjects?
Thanks to audioguides, we know the hit parade of paintings foreign visitors like to see. The Japanese are interested in Realism, particularly Millet and his "Angelus".
Americans go mainly for the Impressionists. We have
pretty accurate statistics, and they are reflected in the
choice of exhibitions requested abroad. In Taiwan,
700,000 visitors saw the "Realist" exhibition. When we
take an exhibition to another country, we try to focus
on something it doesn’t have – for example, Impressionist painting in Spain and Italy, where there is not very much of it.
"Millet, Courbet and French Naturalism:
masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay"
presented at the China Art Museum in Shanghai,
16 November 2012 to 28 February 2013.
Rights reserved
81
How do you choose your partners?
We first of all respond to demand, because we receive
a lot of requests. Our priority is State museums.
We reject shopping centres, exhibition areas and
casinos – like one request from Macao. In Japan, we
were approached by large department stores wanting
to base their communication for the year on a visit
from the Musée d'Orsay. We don't do that kind of
project. Secondly, the management wants to expand
to new horizons and try out new continents, like Latin
America. We were the first to go to Brazil. “Impressionism, Paris and modernity: masterpieces from the
Musée d'Orsay”, which went to Sao Paulo and then Rio,
brought in 870,000 visitors. This was the first time we
had proposed a proper exhibition in South America.
Afterwards, it was very satisfying to see institutions like
Beaubourg and the Louvre following in our footsteps.
Currently, we have our sights set on Chile, as France has
"Millet, Courbet and French Naturalism:
masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay"
presented at the China Art Museum in Shanghai,
16 November 2012 to 28 February 2013.
a glowing reputation there. One example of this
splendid francophilia is the Fine Arts Museum in
Santiago, built in 1910: it's a copy of the Petit Palais in
Paris. Obviously, these events are only possible in countries with a flourishing economy, because it means
considerable investment for the organisers in terms of
transport, insurance and so on.
So how do you juggle this programme with what's
on show in Paris?
Clearly, when Manet's "Le Fifre" has gone off to Brazil,
it's no longer in the museum! But our collections
have doubled in size since the museum opened, so
our rooms are very well stocked, and 80% to 90% of
the principal masterpieces are always on show. In
addition, over half our collection is not allowed to
leave the museum, like the Gachet donation with its
twelve Van Goghs, which are always on display. An
event abroad will feature one or two absolute
masterpieces, and then a more or less acknowledged
hierarchy comes into play. It's rather like the film
world, where the producer buys such and such an
actor, depending on the number of tickets he hopes
to sell. Sometimes a single star is enough. Exhibitions
last three months on average: that's the international
standard. They each involve around sixty works.
Meanwhile, loans represent 1,200 to 1,400 works per
year. That means that works have to be rotated, but
the management of this turnover is part of the very
life of the museum.
Which projects mean the most to you?
At the beginning of February, we opened an exhibition at the Fundación Mapfre in Madrid, which we
work with every year. It focuses on Academicism, and
it's our first event on this theme. Like the one on Natu-
ralism presented two years ago in Shanghai, it has
enabled us to take stock of this part of the national
collection, historically scattered between numerous
regional museums through the old State deposit
system. These exploratory exhibitions make it possible
to work on the collection, look at the works again,
bring them back to the museum, restore them, find
the original frames, collect documentation on them
and write notices for the works. This is extremely
useful and important for the museum. This year, we
have also programmed The Douanier Rousseau in
Venice, Claude Monet in Turin, and Impressionist
Portraits in Rome. For 2016 and the France-Korea
years, we have slightly shifted one planned exhibition
to coincide with the anniversary, which should make it
possible to raise funds. This will be dedicated to Realist
and Academic painting from Millet to Bouguereau.
Interview by Stéphanie Perris-Delmas
to see
"Swan song. Academic painting from the Musée d'Orsay".
Until 3 May 2015, Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid.
www.musee-orsay.fr
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Rights reserved
ART FAIR
TEFAF,
2015 edition
t
o be there or not to be there! That is the
question that gnaws at the top international galleries at the approach of TEFAF,
the great European antiques ritual where
you absolutely have to be to obtain the
blessing of collectors. Here, the potential buyer is
king, and everything is done to ensure guaranteed
top quality, as witness the famous vetting process
with its commission of 167 experts, who go over
every selected object with a fine tooth comb!
And France has a lot to crow about, with an enviable
position as the second best-represented nation after
the UK, ahead of the Netherlands and Germany.
"Being there" is an apotheosis achieved this year by
the young French gallery owner Xavier Eeckhout,
84
whose great love is animal sculptures. For his first
appearance, he has selected works by François
Pompon, Rembrandt Bugatti and Edouard Marcel
Sandoz: a bestiary of bronzes which will be staged by
the designer René Bouchara. Eeckhout's presence in
the Showcase, heaven’s pearly gates, does not
guarantee him a place in the next fair – for this he
to see
TEFAF, 13 to 22 March, Maastricht.
www.tefaf.com
W
Fang, Gabon, 19th century, wood,
metal, H. 42.5 cm. Provenance:
former Arman collection, France.
Lucas Ratton Gallery.
>
© Lucas Ratton
HD
ART FAIR / GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL
86
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / ART FAIR
Lucio Fontana, "Concetto Spaziale",
1960, oil on canvas, 125 x 165 cm.
Courtesy Tornabuoni Art Gallery.
needs to produce a faultless performance – but it
does give him a chance to enter the Holy of Holies.
Lucas Ratton had a highly successful experience here
in 2013, and now exhibits with the major players.
Once again this year, he has a generous selection,
which features ten or so major pieces, including two
works from the former Arman collection: this Fang
reliquary presented in the historic "African Negro Art"
exhibition at the MOMA in 1935, for which he is
asking a little over €1 million, and a Tetela mask from
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A newcomer,
Jean-Baptiste Bacquart, is staking his all in the Showcase selection. Author of "The Tribal Arts of Africa",
published by Thames and Hudson, he will notably be
showing a Luba post from the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, exhibited at the Musée Dapper in 1994,
and a female Songye Kifwebe mask collected during
the Twenties, for which he is asking respectively
€350,000 and €250,000. Tribal art is incidentally one
of the main specialities of the French, who make up
four of the seven exhibitors. Where figures are
concerned, France is the second best-represented
nation after a dominant UK, and accounts for a
quarter of the exhibitors at the fair. But that's not all.
In the three most emblematic sectors of the TEFAFantiques, paintings and the Moderns (which alone
account for 78% of exhibitors) - French galleries are
systematically up with the leaders. They are in fourth
place in Antiques, the best-stocked section.
This brings together furniture and objets d'art from
within and outside Europe, and its ranks include prestigious names like the Kugel Gallery – which this year
has selected a malachite inkwell mounted in silver by
the Paris silversmith Jean-Michaud Labonté for Count
Nikolai Demidov in 1819. Specialising in furniture and
objets d'art, the Aveline Gallery is once more joining
87
ART FAIR / GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL
forces with Christoph Quénetain. Together, they will
be proposing a Thomas Ashe commode, new to the
market, and a pair of mahogany armchairs stamped
by Pierre Garnier, whose provenance seems to be the
Hôtel Massiac, Place des Victoires in Paris, owned by
the Marquis de Marigny. In the painting section, historically the fair's speciality, France shares third place
with the Netherlands. The Sarti and Canesso galleries
remain loyal to the Italian masters; the latter, present
since 2009, has chosen two "Charities" attributed to
Luca Giordano and a portrait by Pietro Fachetti.
Meanwhile, Florence de Voldère is banking on Flanders with a painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger,
"The Payment of the Tithe", produced after 1616, of
which several versions are known. France is in a
strong position in the Modern section (25% of the
Maria Pergay, "Flying Carpet Daybed", 1968,
stainless steel, 40 x 101 x 300 cm. Image
courtesy of Demisch Danant.
88
fair), where it lies in second place with a 16% share.
The Paris galleries are exhibiting post-war works, like
Applicat Prazan, with a magnificent Nicolas de Staël
from the "Agrigente" series, painted in Provence in
1954 (seen on the Paris market at a Sotheby's sale in
2011), and the Berès Gallery, which is offering a 1956
Manolo Millarès. Produced one year later, a "Nature
morte grise à la tâche rouge" by Olivier Debré will be
the star attraction at the Brame & Lorenceau stand,
while the Tornabuoni Art Gallery celebrates Lucio
Fontana with a light-filled "Concetto Spaziale" from
1960, once owned by Enrico Crispolti, the author of
the artist's catalogue raisonné. It is also plain to see
that the multidisciplinary France neglects no speciality, from Classical Antiques – with the Cybèle, Eberwein and Kevorkian galleries – to Japanese prints,
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / ART FAIR
with the Tanaka Gallery. Present in every section,
it even claims leadership in design, where it represents 40% of the galleries. A French speciality, this
section first appeared at the TEFAF in 2009. The everfaithful Christian Boutonnet and Rafael Ortiz of the
Arc en Seine Gallery have selected the flower of Art
Deco, represented by Jean-Michel Frank and Kichizo
Inagaki. We can admire a delicate oak and parchment
lampstand by the latter from around 1917. As we
know, the Japanese artist collaborated with the greatest, from Rodin (for whom he made pedestals) to
Eileen Gray. François Laffanour of the Downtown
Gallery continues his forward-looking work by exhibiting Shaker furniture from his and Philippe Ségalot's
collections, with the collaboration of the Shaker
Museum, Mount Lebanon. Meanwhile, Éric Philippe
will be looking at the Swedish Grace movement and
Danish design, illustrated with a 1942 cabinet by
Hans Wegner. France is once again leader among the
new recruits, a sector where it has nine representatives, including the Gradiva Gallery with the Moderns,
and the Thomas-Scheler bookstore in the Paper
sector. Farideh Cadot has responded to an invitation
from Sydney Picasso, curator of the "Night Fishing"
exhibition: a new section of the fair, which focuses on
the work of one modern or contemporary artist. He
has chosen the unclassifiable Markus Raetz, rarely
seen at top international fairs. Lastly, with three out of
four exhibitors in the Showcase section, considered
more or less the chamber of wonders, France is
certain to be present at the next few editions!
89
TRENDS
The
Grand Tour
i
taly was an essential stopover on the Grand Tour, the journey lasting
two or three years introduced by the English at the end of the 16th
century. A period in Rome became a goal in itself. The elite met up
with each other as they travelled through Europe, completing their
education. These cultivated, fashionable young people were soon
followed by artists – and cultural tourism was born! Painters took over
various districts of the Eternal City, and explored the surrounding countryside, enchanted by the gardens at Tivoli and the ruins they happened
upon during their wanderings. The beauty of antique art also made a
lasting impression on them, and they honed their pens copying its
magnificent marbles. It took until 1776 for the many Frenchmen in the
city to obtain permission to go to other places as well as Rome and
Naples. The Marquis de Vandières – the future Marquis de Marigny and
Director of the Bâtiments du Roi – was sent to Italy in 1749 by his
powerful sister, the Marquise de Pompadour, in order (as she said) "to
acquire the requisite knowledge to serve a great King fittingly, in managing the Monuments needed to immortalise the glory of his reign."
90
HD
>
€28,750 Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820),
"Ruines romaines animées de personnages", 1759,
watercolour and gouache on paper, 47.3 x 60 cm (detail).
Paris, Drouot, 12 March 2014.
Oger-Blanchet auction house. M. Auguier.
91
TRENDS / GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL
€2,125 Victor-Jean Nicolle (1754-1826),
"Vue de Florence", undated, watercolour,
ink and pen on paper, 20.4 x 30.9 cm.
Paris, Drouot, 26 November 2014, KapandjiMorhange auction house. M. de Bayser.
GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL / TRENDS
Key figure
1968
After the events of May 1968 the Prix de Rome,
in the form dating from 1663, was abolished
by Minister of Culture André Malraux.
€8,430 Louis-François Cassas (1756-1827),
"Vue des Iles Borromées", undated, drawing and
watercolour on paper (one of a pair), 61 x 86 cm.
Paris, Drouot, 15 November 2013.
Fraysse & Associés auction house. M. de Bayser.
He remained there for two years. Accompanied by
Soufflot (the architect of the future Paris Pantheon) and
the engraver Cochin, he met the painter Joseph Vernet,
who had been living in Rome with his family since
1734 and had earned a glowing reputation. The two
men developed a close relationship through discussions about commissions, and frequently dined together. Meanwhile, the Abbé de Saint-Non visited Rome
with Hubert Robert and Jean-Honoré Fragonard in
1760, and the German landscape painter Jakob
Philippe Hackert became friends with Goethe in
Naples. Intellectual emulation was widespread. (The
Musée des Beaux-arts in Caen paid tribute to these
inquiring travellers in an exhibition entitled "For the
love of art: French 18th-century artists and collectors
94
"in February-April 2012). As a result, the face of European art was changed forever, in a positive way, as their
quest for rebirth led artists to introduce a new
aesthetic into art – including painting, sculpture and
architecture. Then the buried cities of Pompeii and
Herculaneum were rediscovered: another important
moment. Italy seemed to have an endless supply of
hidden treasures. With the founding of the Académie
de France in Rome in 1666, after the creation of the Prix
de Rome in 1663, the Eternal City became an essential
stage in the education of all serious young French
artists. The painters of the Italian School were yet
another attraction in Rome. Young hopeful "greenhorns" from all over Europe were eager to gain access
to them, and would spend long sessions observing
€8,250 Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806),
study from "La loge de Psyché" by Raphaël, undated,
drawing in crayon on paper, 26.5 x 19.5 cm.
Paris, Drouot, 20 June 2012. Kapandji-Morhange
auction house. M. de Bayser.
95
to read
Gilles Bertrand , "Grand Tour" ("tourisme", "touriste",
in Olivier Christin's "Dictionnaire des concepts nomades
en sciences humaines", Paris, Métailié, 2010.
€55,760 André Giroux (1801-1879),
"Vue du Vésuve depuis les ruines de Pompéi",
oil on paper mounted on canvas, 20.5 x 38.5 cm.
Paris, Drouot, 27 November 2013. Auction Art
Rémy Le Fur & Associés auction house.
€19,000 Louis-François Cassas (1756-1827),
"Vue générale du Temple de la Concorde à Agrigente",
undated, watercolour on paper (pair), 55 x 79 cm.
Paris, Drouot, 24 April 2014. Cabinet VAEP-Marie-Françoise
Robert auction house.
and imitating them in museums and collectors' exhibition rooms. One of these was Fragonard, who studied
the great masters assiduously and copied the drawings
of Benedetto Castiglione, Tintoretto, Veronese and
Raphael, no less! There was considerable interest in the
drawings brought back from Rome. It's rather pleasing
to think that today's collectors are the enlightened
heirs of yesteryear's art lovers – fascinated, like them,
by these works so full of meaning and appeal. Nicolas
Poussin was one of the first French painters to be transformed by his journey to Italy. However, his works
98
hardly appear on the market: the last fine Italian landscape sold in Paris was in 2001 (Tajan, 27 March), when
it fetched €198,180. His friend and fellow student
Claude Gellée, aka Claude Lorrain, is also actively
sought-after. Louis-François Cassas, Charles-Louis
Clérisseau and Hubert Robert are some of the bestknown artists. Their major drawings often come up for
sale, regularly garnering around €20,000. Adrien
Manglard, Joseph Vernet and Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes brought a fresh eye to landscapes through
their study of atmospheric effects, and the latter added
€24,375 Hubert Robert (1733-1808),
"Les Escaliers et le palais du Capitole à Rome",
circa 1769, brown ink, pen, brown wash and
watercolour on paper, 32 x 38 cm.
Paris, Drouot, 6 June 2014. Pescheteau-Badin
auction house. M. Millet.
a mythological dimension. His drawings are few and
far between on the market, and always fire enthusiasts,
who will often pay €40,000 or more for one. (A watercolour of "Procris showing her magic arrows to Cephalus"
was sold for €48,000 by the Millon auction house on 25
June 2010.) Joseph Vernet's drawings can be obtained
for €1,500, but an accomplished, skilfully constructed
piece with wash highlights will fetch around €30,000
(€39,092 went to a view of Castel Nuovo in Naples on
7 July 2010 at Christie’s, London). The Roman atmosphere was all the rage; the residents of the French
Academy let their hair down at Turkish and Chinese
masquerades, magnificently depicted in the engravings of Joseph Marie Vien and Jean-Baptiste Marie
Pierre, while Pierre Parrocel lavished his finest skills on
the fireworks that lit up the Roman nights.
By now the 19th century had arrived, but Rome
became no less popular. With Granet, Bidault, Chauvin,
Giroult, Michallon, Bertin, Caruelle d’Aligny,
Corot and many others, a whole string of young talents
went to rub shoulders with the illustrious Ancients,
returning as masters.
Anne Doridou-Heim
99

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